Fall Together
by Michael224
Summary: Oneshot. Soul/Maka. She loves him and it's so much easier than she expects it to be.


I usually don't go for romance in anime but Soul Eater is one exception to that. Even though Soul and Maka weren't together in the anime, if Imagine what could have happened after it was over, I can't ever seem to imagine that they wouldn't eventually be together.

I don't own Soul Eater

_She feels the connection almost instantly_

She remembers other Meisters talking about it, about how easy it is for them but she never understands it until she meets him. He's there, white hair a wild mess, with a crooked smile on his face, sitting at that piano.

All it takes is one song for her to know. She feels it there, understands what those others had told her and knows she's found the only person she ever wants be partners with.

_She feels protective_

She's never felt protective over anyone before. Her mother is a fiercely independent woman and, on the days when her father is not pissing her off, he is still a death scythe. She supposes she's never had to feel protective over anyone before. Before him.

When he steps in front of Crona's blade for her, when all she can do is stand there, in shock as he falls, she feels it. At first, she doesn't know how to handle the emotion, the instinct she has to protect him afterwards, to try and make sure that it will never happen again.

Again, she doesn't know what to do when it causes fights between them, when it almost splinters their partnership. Her determination to protect him comes out as an extreme bossiness and, while he's willing to sacrifice his life for her, he doesn't respond well to this.

She's almost cries in frustration over it and in relief when they manage to patch things up, in the middle of a fight, of all things. She's unwilling to risk losing him again, unwilling to see him fall again.

She doesn't recognize her growing feelings for what they truly are until much later.

_She loves him. _

It comes to her, this realization, well after they defeat Asura. Well after he's stepped in the line of fire for her _twice. _It comes to her slowly and also not at the same time. She realizes it's been building in her for a while, maybe since they've known each other.

It comes in shocking clarity now. Maybe it's because she's older, more mature, can recognize what's probably been there all along. She can recognize that feeling she gets every time he flashes her one of his half smiles or tells her how he thinks she's the coolest partner ever.

She likes that title, can't help but to beam every time he says it. She loves him and she wonders sometimes, for all her intelligence, why it's taken her so long to see it.

_He's a strange boy_.

She remembers thinking that before, when they'd first met. She's heard other people say it and it's true. He is a strange boy. But they're all strange, she supposes. She knows his habits, knows every one of his quirks and they don't irritate her like they used to.

She loves him for all of them and for his unflinching loyalty. She loves him when he's always willing to step in front of danger for her. She loves him when he refuses to let her sit and mope. She loves him when he tries his best to cheer her up when she's frustrated or disappointed.

But she also loves him even when he refuses to get up in the morning, when he falls asleep in class, when he ditches to run around with Black Star, when he forgets to clean up after himself at home.

She just…loves him.

_In the end, she doesn't have to say it_

She's been building up her nerve for a while, going over and over it in her head, weighing whether she should tell him at all. For a while, she resolves not to, visions of her father playing out in her mind but as she grows up, she's able to see the difference.

He's nothing like her father. He's never intentionally hurt her. And, strangely, no matter how afraid she is, no matter how many times she sees her father do the wrong thing, she can't imagine him ever doing so.

She's dragged him out into the trees again, and he's crouched against one of them, hands in his pockets, watching her pace and babble. She does it for several minutes before he speaks up.

_"Maka." _

He says her name firmly and she stops, finally turns to him. When she meets his gaze, she's frozen for a second by what she sees shining in those red eyes of his, everything she's been feeling reflected back at her. She wonders briefly if it's always been there and she simply hadn't recognized it before.

He reaches for her, and she lets him pull her down. It's surprising how easily they fall together. It's just as easy as it had been when they first met.

When he pulls her close, and she knows that everything she's feeling, he is as well, she can't compare it to anything she's experienced before in her life because, maybe, this is better. He makes her life better.


End file.
